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Who's Who - Mehmed Talaat Pasha

Mehmed Talaat Pasha (1874-1921) was a
prominent leader of the Young Turk movement and was Grand Vizier from
1917-18.

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Born in Edirne in the
Ottoman Empire Talaat was the son of a minor official and during his early
career worked variously in a telegraph office and as a postal officer.
Nevertheless at this early stage Talaat developed a political restlessness
that saw him arrested for subversive activity in 1893.

With the success of the
Young Turk revolution of 1908 (in which he played a leading part) Talaat was
appointed deputy for Edirne in Parliament and, the following year, elevated
to the Cabinet as Minister of the Interior. He was subsequently
appointed Minister of Post and then elected Secretary General of the
Committee of Union and Progress in 1912, further boosting his power base
within the party.

Unusually among the Young
Turk leadership Talaat favoured allying with the
Entente Powers prior to war
in 1914, notably with Russia. With his diplomatic overtures to the
Allies ignored however he eventually sided with his rival
Enver Pasha in
proposing an
alliance with the Central Powers led by Germany.

War with the Entente Powers
consequently followed in November 1914. Unlike his colleagues Talaat
faced the
prospect of war with some apprehension, uncertain of the Ottoman
Empire's likelihood of success in the coming conflict. At best he
viewed participation as a sizeable gamble.

As Minister of the Interior
Talaat was faced with the responsibility of ensuring Turkey's domestic
ability to conduct war, consequently subordinating Ottoman society to
support the army's requirements.

Controversially his office
oversaw the
deportation of the Armenians from the Ottoman Empire's eastern
provinces (and therefore susceptible to Russian influence) to Syria and
Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) in April 1915 following the rebels' capture
of the city of Van.

Some 600,000 Armenians
perished in the twentieth century's first case of mass genocide.
Talaat's subsequent denials of knowledge or involvement were generally
disregarded by most observers both at the time and more recently.

In February 1917 Talaat was
made Grand Vizier. He held this position until his resignation on 14
October 1918, immediately prior to Turkey's unconditional surrender to the
Allies (and not far ahead of the Allies' occupation of Constantinople
itself).

Having fled, along with
Enver Pasha and Djemal Pasha, to Germany aboard a German ship, he was
subsequently murdered in Berlin on 15 March 1921 in an act of revenge by an
Armenian assassin.

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Saturday, 22 August, 2009Michael Duffy

"Lance corporal bacon" was the name used by Anzac soldiers to describe very fatty bacon with a sliver of lean meat running through it.